2009 Transportation Bill

Editor’s note: Today we have a guest post from Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who has represented Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District since 1996. He is the lead sponsor of the House’s “CLEAN TEA” climate legislation and founded the Congressional Bicycle Caucus. Rep. Earl Blumenauer. Photo: Airdye.com With much excitement, today we are launching the Livable Communities … Continued

Halfway through the extra month that Congress gave itself to resolve a long-simmering dispute over funding the nation's transportation system, Democratic leaders remain deadlocked over whether -- and how long -- to wait before debating a broad reform of federal infrastructure policy.

Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), the No. 2 Democratic leader in the upper chamber of Congress and a close ally of the president, broke with the White House yesterday and called for a new long-term transportation bill to pass by early next year -- not after the Obama administration's preferred 18-month delay.

That's the suggestion that an anonymous "Senate aide" made to Bloomberg News this morning, recounting a possible White House change of heart as mounting job losses stoke new debate over a second stimulus bill:

By a vote of 62-38, the Senate has passed a one-month extension of the 2005 transportation law, which was set to expire at midnight tonight and leave state DOTs without a steady source of funding for road, bridge, and transit projects.

After a day of twists and turns, the House yesterday approved a three-month extension of the current law that governs spending on the nation's transit, bridges, and roads. Yet the 335-85 vote obscures an ongoing clash between the House and Senate that could extend into a fourth straight month.

As the Senate backs up the White House's push for an 18-month delay in approving a new federal infrastructure bill, one of its major arguments is that the economic stimulus law's $48 billion in transportation money would help tide the nation over until long-term legislation could be passed.

House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) is readying a proposal to extend current infrastructure law by three months -- 15 months less than the delay preferred by the White House -- and could introduce the legislation as soon as next week, his office said today.

Interest groups seeking to influence transportation policy-making have long flooded the capital with campaign cash and lobbyists -- and their numbers are rising at an eye-popping rate. Nearly 1,800 interests are employing at least 2,100 transportation lobbyists to work the system in anticipation of the next federal infrastructure bill, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation unveiled today.